New Zealand again in team finals!

 Recurve Men India and Ukraine had a close start in the 1/8 elimination round with 9-10-9-9-9-9 and 55 points for the Indians and 10-7-9-10-9-9 and 54 points for the Ukrainians. However, later on the power house represented by BANERJEE-CHAMPIA-TALUKDAR was too good for RUBAN and his teammates. The Indians had a couple of bad arrows but also a lot of 10s: 8-7-9-10-10-10, 10-8-9-10-9-10 and 9-10-9-10-6-8 to clinch the match 217-207. China beat Italy in a tight match: 51-51, 103-101, 152-154 and finally a come-back victory for the Chinese team, 206-204. The closest match was the one of Malaysia and Russia. Both teams did not start well. The Malaysians had a 3 in the first end and the Russians had a 4 but they led 48-45. The rest was much better for both teams. Malaysia scored ends of 55, 54 and 55 to reach 209 points. Russia had ends of 54, 53 and 54 and also got 209 points. In the shoot-off another bad arrow was fatal for Russia. They scored 9-6-9 while the Malaysians had 9-10-10 to advance to the next round.   The Malaysians could not challenge the No. 1 seed Korea in the next round. The Koreans won 229-209, just two points off their world record. The closest match was between China and Spain. They were tied at 50-50. Then the Chinese team took the lead at 106-102 but Spain managed to close the gap at 154-155. The Spanish scored 10-10-9-8-8-7 in the last end and pulled a come-back victory 206-205. The No. 6 Mexico managed to take out the no. 3 India! The Mexicans dominated 53-50, 108-103, 162-160 and 218-210! Finally France beat Russia, 54-51, 106-101, 163-150 and 217-208.   In the semifinal, Spain led Korea 55-52 and 107-106. However, Korea brought the heat in the third end with X10-10-10-X10-10-9, while the Spanish archers had 8-10-8-7-8-9. The Koreans completely reversed the situation to lead 165-158. They did not finish too strong with a 51 while their opponents had 55, but Korea qualified for another final, 216-213. France shot really well in the other semifinal. They led Mexico 57-56 and made the difference in the second end, 113-108. They still led 166-163. The Mexicans concluded 9-9-9-9-10-10 but the Frenchmen did even better, 10-10-X10-10-10-9 to clinch the match 225-218. Romain GIROUILLE (FRA) said: “We all shot well. We have a very homogeneous team and when one makes a mistake, another one immediately picks it up. Tomorrow, we hope to have 100% chances to beat the Koreans (smile)”.  Recurve Women The recurve women entered the field first early this morning and the interesting match of the 1/8 elimination round was Ukraine against France. It took a couple of ends for the team to get into the game but France led 101-99 thanks to ends of 8-7-9-10-10-7 and 10-7-8-8-8-9. However Ukraine then turned the heat to score 59 in the third end and take the advantage 158-156. At the end, the Ukrainians only managed 8-10-8-10-8-9, while France concluded with 10-10-9-10-7-10 and clinched a come-back victory 212-211. In the other close match, the No. 5 Germany pulled it through at the end against the No. 12 Spain. The score evolution was 50-51, 100-102, 151-149 and 207-200. The No. 8 Great Britain beat the No. 9 Japan. They led 51-48, 103-95, 156-145 and concluded with 203-197.   The No. 6 Italy managed to take out the No. 3 India mainly thanks to a strong start. The Italians scored 10-9-10-10-10-9 to take the lead in the first end 58-51. The Indians struck back in the second end with 8-7-9-10-10-10 and closed the gap to 108-105. The Italians increased their lead in the third end with 8-9-9-10-10-10, 164-158. The Indians finished strong with 9-10-10-9-10-9 for 215 points, but the Italians held on with 9-10-9-10-9-8 for 219! The other higher seeds prevailed. The Koreans had a rough start with 50 points and trailed the British archers 50-54, but then the favourites took charge, 104-102, 160-155 and 216-208.   Korea controlled its semifinal against China, 55-53, 111-106, 165-161 and 221-218. The other one was more challenging between Italy and Russia. The Italians led 56-53 but the Russians turned it around in the second end to take the lead, 107-106. They increased it even further to 163-156 and concluded on the score of 216-210. The young Russian archer Tatiana SEGINA said: “I shot OK today. I was a bit nervous because I am new in the team, but I think my experience in the last two recent World Archery Youth Championships helped me.”   The recurve bronze and gold medal matches will be played on Sunday morning in the Yuan Shen Stadium.  Compound Men The compound competition started in the quarterfinals and the No. 6 Mexico took on the No. 3 Australia. The Mexicans had the best start with 8-9-9-9-10-8 and 10-10-10-9-9-9 to lead 110-105. Australia was better in the second half with 9-9-9-8-10-10 and 9-10-9-9-10-10 (112 points). However Mexico held it with 10-9-10-8-7-10 and 10-9-9-8-10-10 (110 points) to win 220-217. The other quarterfinals were straight wins for New Zealand over Philippines, South Africa over France and Russia over China.   In the semifinals, New Zealand and South Africa made the show. South-Africa had the best start 9-9-10-10-10-9 (for 57 points) compared to New Zealand’s 10-10-10-8-10-8 (56). The New Zealanders struck back 10-10-10-9-10-9 (58/114), while the South Africans had 10-8-10-8-9-10 (55/112). The latter were the best again in the third end 9-10-8-10-10-9 (56/168), while the Kiwis had 8-9-10-9-9-9 (54/168). It all came down to the last end. The “all blacks” shot 9-10-9-10-10-9 (57) and the “Saffers” concluded with 8-10-9-8-10-10 (55). Victory for New Zealand, 226-224! In the other semifinal, Mexico kept a small edge over Russia all match long: 55-54, 110-107, 166-163, 221-219.   In the bronze medal match South Africa seemed to have won it after three ends. They scored 10-9-9-10-10-9, 8-10-10-8-8-8 and 10-10-10-9-9-8 and led Russia 165-161. However, the South Africans finished with 10-8-8-8-10-9, while the Russians surged with 10-10-9-8-10-10 and both teams ended tied at 218-218! In the shoot-off Russia did 9-10-9, while South Africa had 10-10-9 to clinch the bronze medal! Seppie CILLIERS (RSA) said: “It’s very nice shooting with the best nations in the world and the organization is so smooth with this World Cup in Shanghai that it helps you shooting well. This is the team that will go to the World Championships and winning our first World Cup medal today is good for the motivation. We have a good team. Nico BENADE shot 1405 and Wesley GATES is always consistent. We hope to do something good at the world championships for a change.” When we congratulated him for this recent world record at 30 metres, he added: “Thanks. We had good weather, good people in the crowd, good shooters on the same target. It all brought good vibes that helped the performance.”  Compound Women There was a down-under dual in the women’s quarterfinals. New Zealand and Australia were tied at 56-56, before the Australians took a slight lead 107-105, 163-160 and concluded at 220-217. In the other quarterfinal, China had a slight lead over France at 56-55. The Frenchwomen tied it at 109-109 and took the lead later with 163-158. They won 218-214.   The No. 1 seed Mexico handled Australia in the semifinals 56-50, 110-94, 164-148 and 221-202. A young Russian team fared well against France. BALZHANOVA-KOROBEYNIKOVA-LOGINOVA took a small lead after six arrows, 55-54 and increased it all way through: 108-103, 164-158 and 220-211.   In the bronze medal match, France had a good start with 10-10-10-10-9-8 and took a commanding lead 57-49. The French athletes did not let anything go later with ends of 8-10-8-X10-10-8, 8-8-8-9-8-9 and 10-8-10-10-9-9 to win the bronze medal 217-204.   The compound gold medal match will be shot on Sunday morning in the Yuan Shen Stadium as of 9:30.   Didier MIEVILLE FITA Communication